The Women’s Super League’s December goal-of-the-month compilation will probably include three contributions from this match. Arsenal scored two of them and climbed to second in the table as half-volleys from Katie McCabe and Olivia Smith helped them on their way to a valuable victory.
It will have felt all the more satisfying for Arsenal after Chelsea dropped points against Everton last Sunday. They were momentarily given a scare when Honoka Hayashi levelled the scores in a frenetic first-half spell, but that proved to be a rare Everton attack in a contest that was otherwise managed well by Arsenal’s midfield.
After McCabe’s opener and Hayashi’s equaliser, Alessia Russo quickly restored Arsenal’s lead with a scrappy effort and Everton were fortunate not to be further behind. Arsenal’s display of inventive movement led to some relentless first-half pressure. Although Everton stemmed the tide a little in the second half, a shock result rarely looked on the cards and Smith’s instinctive strike into the far corner made it 3-1 to secure the win.
Brian Sørensen, Everton’s manager, accepted the visitors were too strong. “In that first 20 minutes, they were really suffocating us,” he said. “When I see Arsenal at their best, it’s the best team in the league by a mile, in the way that they move together defensively and the way they move the ball.”
